Shetty made her acting debut in Puri Jagannath's 2005 Telugu film Super alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna. The same year, she acted in another film Mahanandi, which was an unsuccessful venture. In 2006, she had four releases, the first being S. S. Rajamouli's Vikramarkudu opposite Raviteja, in which she portrayed the character Neeraja Goswami. The film went on to become very successful and got her much recognition, that eventually made her very popular in Andhra Pradesh.[7][3] She next had starred in the film Astram, a remake of the 1999 Hindi film Sarfarosh, following which she debuted in the Tamil film industry, acting in the Sundar C.-directed action flick Rendu, sharing screen space with R. Madhavan. Later that year, she made a special appearance in A. R. Murugadoss' directorial debut in Telugu, Stalin.Her first release in 2007 was Lakshyam, after which she starred in Raghava Lawrence's Don opposite Nagarjuna again, of which particularly the former did very well at the box office.[8] In 2008 she had appeared in six films. Okka Magaadu was the first release, in which she played one of three female leads. Her subsequent releases Swagatam alongside Jagapati Babu and Bhumika Chawla and Baladur opposite Ravi Teja garnered poor reviews and box office returns. She next appeared in the film Souryam with Gopichand which became a box office hit.
In 2009, Shetty first starred in the blockbuster hit Arundhati. In this heroine-centric film, she essayed two roles for the first time.[4] It was a critical as well as commercial success. Her performance, as Jejamma in particular, was critically acclaimed and fetched her her first Nandi Award and the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Her next film, the action flick Billa, a remake of the 2007 Tamil namesake, itself a remake of the 1978 Hindi film Don, featured Shetty in a role contrary to that in Arundati. Her final release in 2009 was her second Tamil feature film, Vettaikkaran with leading Tamil actor Vijay which was a failure. She had an array of releases in 2010, with her Tamil release Singam co-starring Surya emerging her highest-grosser of the year, while most her Telugu films performed poorly. She, however, won accolades for her performances, in particular for her portrayal of a prostitute in Krish's critically acclaimed Vedam,[9] following which she was selected to reprise the character in its Tamil remake, Vaanam as well. Her other 2010 releases Panchakshari, Khaleja, Nagavalli and Ragada bombed at the box office.
